


fresh start

by flashhwing



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics)
Genre: Blüdhaven, Cassandra Cain is Nightwing, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Roommates, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 08:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17763290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashhwing/pseuds/flashhwing
Summary: How nice would it be if Steph could just move to Bludhaven?  And it could be her and Cass again, and things would be like they used to except they’d be Nightwing and Batgirl insead of Batgirl and Spoiler.  Just like old times.Actually ...What was keeping Steph in Gotham?  She very well could just up and leave, couldn’t she?





	fresh start

**Author's Note:**

> Will I ever write something that isn't a roommates au? Only time will tell ...
> 
> Characters are real but canon is fake, so just go with it, yeah? Steph and Cass are from post-crisis, Nightwing and Bludhaven are from rebirth, comics are a mess and I'm just here to have fun.

Steph peered at her reflection in the mirror and poked at the budding bruise on her cheek with a small  _ harrumph! _  It didn’t look that bad.  It was barely purple and didn’t cover her whole face or anything.

Her ribs, on the other hand, were a whole other story.  But Alfred had already wrapped those to the best of his incredibly impressive ability, so she figured that was fine.   _ She _ was fine.  More importantly, Batgirl had been  _ more than _ fine out in the field, and three arms dealer jerkfaces were behind bars thanks to her, and she definitely didn’t need or deserve the Bitchman bitching about it.

“ _ You’re still reckless, _ ” she muttered in her best mocking tone.  It sounded nothing like Bruce, but she thought she got the main (bitchy) essence.  “ _ You almost let them get away _ .”

Steph pulled a face.   _ Almost _ was the operative word there.  Again, three whole jerkfaces! Behind bars!  Because of a lead that  _ she _ found and  _ she _ followed!  And okay,  _ maybe _ she’d gotten a little ahead of herself,  _ maybe _ she didn’t notice the crowbar in time, but she still maintained that she would’ve gotten a handle on the situation and finished them off without Batman’s help, thank you very much.

“You are a strong, independent Batgirl,” Steph said, jutting out her chin and pointing exaggeratedly at her reflection.  “Who don’t need no Batman.”

But really, it wasn’t even Batman’s interference that ticked her off.  It wasn’t Robin’s smug gloating or Alfred’s stern (and only slightly condescending) glances.  

No, what really got Steph’s goat was that after all this time, Bruce  _ still _ didn’t trust her in the field.

Hadn’t she earned that by now?  Hadn’t she proved herself, over and over and over again?  She had Barbara’s respect, for crying out loud! And Cass — Cass had handed Steph the Batgirl suit  _ herself _ , and everyone knew Cass was the best of them.

Grumbling, Steph very specifically did not stomp out of the bathroom and very specifically did plop down on her bed (which her ribs immediately informed her was a mistake, but she was sticking by it).  She missed Cass. She missed when they were Black Bat and Batgirl, patrolling Gotham and keeping her citizens safe under Oracle’s guiding eye. But now Cass was in Blüdhaven being Nightwing, and yeah, it wasn’t  _ technically _ far, but it wasn’t like Steph could just pop over to whole other city every night for patrol.  Not when she still had classes and exams and papers and all that. They had video chats every couple days like any good long-distance girlfriends, but it just wasn’t the same.

Sometimes Steph thought Cass was lucky.  Actually, Steph often thought Cass was lucky.  Bruce only cared about Blüdhaven in that one of his kids was there — but Batman himself was never  _ in _ the city, breathing down Nightwing’s neck.  Nightwing had total freedom, a whole city removed from the Family, the benefit of Oracle’s help without Batman’s shadow.  Must be nice.

Not that Cass could  _ truly _ appreciate it, seeing as how she actually  _ liked _ Batman, the absolute madwoman.

How nice would it be if Steph could just move to Blüdhaven?  And it could be her and Cass again, and things would be like they were except they’d be Nightwing and Batgirl, and they’d still have Oracle in their ear but there’d be fewer masked crazies and more casinos.

But Steph still had two years left in her marketing degree.  She couldn’t just … up and  _ leave _ .

Unless …

Steph bolted upright ( _ again? _ her ribs complained).  There were schools in Blüdhaven.  Gotham U’s sister school was in Blüdhaven.  And it was mid April. She had plenty of time to apply for a transfer for the fall semester.

Steph very well  _ could _ just up and leave, if she so chose.

And now was the time to choose …

* * *

 

“I have arrived!” Steph declared as she kicked open the door to Cass’s (now  _ hers _ and Cass’s) apartment, carrying a large box of haphazardly packed clothes.  It was the first day of June, the sun was shining, she was enrolled for the fall semester at NJU Blüdhaven, and best of all, she never had to step foot in Gotham again if she wanted.  (Of course she’d be back to visit her mother (and Barbara, probably, though she hadn’t actually promised her) from time to time, but that fell under the category of “if she wanted”.)

Except … it didn’t look like an apartment.  It looked like a gym. Like a big, empty gym, complete with one mirrored wall, yet no equipment.

“Uhh, Cass?” Steph called over her shoulder and waited for Cass to catch up and give her an inquisitive look.  “ _ Please _ tell me you don’t live in a gym.”

“I don’t live in a gym.”

Steph made a small noise of distress.  Why did that sound so sarcastic? Why did Cass choose to infuse  _ that _ sentence with sarcasm so thick you could cut it with a knife?  

Cass rolled her eyes and smiled that cute little half-smile that made Steph’s heart do a flip.  “Come on,” she said, tugging on Steph’s wrist gently enough that she didn’t drop her box.

There was a door on the far side of the gym, next to the mirrors, and that is the door that Cass led Steph through.  Behind it was a studio apartment complete with a kitchen, a couch, a bed on a platform behind a little half-wall, and a door that Steph hoped led to a bathroom.  

“Oh-kay, so  _ this  _ is where you live,” Steph said with an exaggerated sigh of relief.  “That makes so much more sense.”

Steph surveyed the space a little closer.  There was a row of little cactuses lined up on the kitchen island, and more potted plants in every corner.  A bookshelf next to the television held several assorted knick knacks — decks of cards, a toy motorcycle, a few decorated fans, some figures of famous monuments, a couple sketchbooks, a snowglobe of Gotham, a little plush version of Cass as Batgirl — amongst framed photos of Cass with Bruce and her brothers.  On the wall above the bed hung a blue and yellow neon sign that said “girls girls girls.”

The sign brought a smile to Steph’s face.  She’d bought it for Cass as a going-away present when she first moved to Blüdhaven.  It was a bit of a joke really — Cass was never much into the Pride aspect of her sexuality, but Steph maintained that every lesbian needed a piece of Tacky Lesbian™ decor.

“You’re not a lesbian,” Cass had pointed out.

“No, but my girlfriend is,” Steph had replied, giving Cass a peck on the cheek.  “So I think I understand their needs.”

In retrospect, it was amazing it took Steph this long to follow Cass to Blüdhaven.  Well okay, Cass had moved at the end of February, so really it was only three months, but that was three months stuck in Gotham with Bruce breathing down her neck harder than ever.

And okay, now that she had some distance,  _ maybe _ she could appreciate the stress Bruce was under.  What with Dick leaving, Cass moving out, the drama with Jason (whatever that was, she didn’t want to know), and Tim going AWOL, Bruce was kinda stretched thin.  

Didn’t excuse him for being a jerk, though.  

Steph strode purposefully across the apartment and up the three stairs to the bed (-room? bed-area?), where she promptly dropped her box.

“So,” she said, sitting herself down at the edge of the bed.  There was another Batgirl plush resting against the pillows, only this one had blonde hair and purple accents on the suit.  Steph picked it up and fiddled with it. “Pretty nice place ya got.”

“No.”  Cass lightly swatted Steph’s arm with a mock-stern look.  Or it might’ve been a legit-stern look, but it was probably mock-stern.  “Finish unloading,  _ then _ we can small-talk.”

“Whaat?” Steph whined, even as she started back towards the front door and the truck beyond it (well, the truck beyond the gym beyond it).  “But Caaass, I just drove  _ two hours _ !”

Cass gave her a Look, and dragged her along by the wrist again.  “Come on,” she said in a tone of voice that somehow managed to be commanding and soft at the same time.

“Since when did you get so bossy?”

“You’re in  _ my _ city now.”

And wasn’t  _ that _ thrilling?  Suddenly any complaints Steph had, real or joking, evaporated and she was left with a giddiness that settled pleasantly somewhere below her stomach.  She bit her lip and followed Cass with renewed glee.

This was gonna be a  _ good move _ .

* * *

 

“So, how much of this stuff used to be Dick’s?”

“None of it.”

Steph was sprawled longways on the couch with Cass draped on top of her.  All of Steph’s stuff had been unpacked (and it only took four hours!) and now they had  _ Queer Eye _ marathoning on the TV.  They’d finished a half-pint of frozen yogurt between them two episodes ago, and the evidence had long since rolled away under the coffee table.

“Really, none of it?”

“It’s all mine.”

It was nice.  Cass was warm, and her weight on Steph’s chest was comforting in a way that no weighted blanket could hope to match.  Gosh, how long had it been since they spent some chill time like this?

“So what, he took everything to Central with him, or?”

“I think he doesn’t have any stuff.”

How lucky were they?  Where would they be if Nightwing hadn’t decided to move to Missouri (of all places,  _ Missouri _ ) to help the Flash with whatever?  Well they wouldn’t be cuddling in their own fully paid-off luxury studio apartment (was that an oxymoron?) in their own city, that’s for sure.

“I can’t decide if that’s inspirational or sad.”

Cass shrugged and snuggled further into Steph’s chest.  Her head was tucked underneath Steph’s chin, her arms looped under Steph’s shoulders, her legs tangled up in Steph’s.  It hadn’t exactly slipped Steph’s mind how clingy Cass was, but it was easy to forget how nice it felt. Like a puzzle piece slotting right into place.

Carding her fingers through Cass’s hair, Steph pressed a small kiss on her girlfriend’s head.  “So … this is nice.”

Cass nodded.

“We should  _ totally _ do this again sometime.”

Cass flicked the side of Steph’s head, but her smile could be felt through Steph’s tee-shirt.

“Give me your number, I promise I’ll call!”

“I’m leaving,” Cass declared, wriggling out of Steph’s grip.

“You will do no such thing!”  Steph lunged for Cass, trying to grab her ‘round the middle, but she’d already vaulted over the back of the couch, landing in a graceful somersault and finishing with a half-pirouette.  

“Catch me if you can, sucker!”

Some people (Tim) thought that introducing Cass to 90’s sitcoms had been a bad idea.  Those people, of course, were entitled to their wrong opinion.

“Why, I oughta —” Steph gave chase, vaulting over the back of the couch.  She did not somersault and came nowhere near performing a pirouette, but the vault served its purpose.

The game was on.  Cass led Steph all around the apartment (which wasn’t hard, since it was one room), gliding and spinning and flipping around every surface.  And Steph matched her every move — perhaps not with so much grace or fancy moves, but let it never be said that Stephanie Brown couldn’t keep up.

When Cass flipped over the kitchen island, Steph followed suit, sliding over it.  When she hand-sprung over the half-wall and onto the bed, Steph vaulted over it moments later.  When she leapt over the coffeetable, Steph was right behind her, though she didn’t go over the table.  No, she baseball-slid on the hardwood next to it, deftly snatching up something vital as she did so.

“Think fast!” Steph shouted as she threw the empty fro-yo carton directly at Cass’s head.

Cass caught it.  Of course she did.  She thought faster than anyone; she didn’t need a warning.  However, the action  _ did  _ cause her to slow her momentum, giving Steph just enough leeway to catch up —

— and go skidding right into Cass’s outstretched hand.

“Wait,” Cass said, tilting her head towards the open kitchen window.  Steph followed the gesture and saw a community garden nestled between this building and the next, lit up solely by a single streetlamp. 

The sun had set on Blüdhaven.

A wicked grin spread itself across Steph’s face.

“Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Cass said, one eyebrow raised.

“Patrol time?”

“Rooftop tag.”

Just like old times.  That’s what it always came down to, wasn’t it?  You could change their names, move them across cities, hurt them, break them, abuse them, but at the end of the day, this is what they were.  Steph and Cass, Spoiler and Batgirl — or Batgirl and Nightwing, as it were. It didn’t matter, so long as they had each other, the open city, a couple of bad guys to beat up.  They would always be just fine.

Steph really wasn’t gonna miss Gotham  _ at all _ , was she?

She held out her arm as if to act as an escort to Cass.  “Shall we, Nightwing?”

Cass took the proffered arm, a brilliant smile lighting up her face.  “Ready when you are, Batgirl.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> So in case it wasn't clear ... Dick moved in with Wally in Central City for reasons that Steph is wholly uninterested in, and entrusted Cass with his city, his apartment, and his name. I might write a fic about that someday, but this is the one I wanted to write today. (Dick is still operating as Nightwing, but pretty much only with the Titans. this isn't mentioned because it's not relevant to Steph's story.)
> 
> Kudos and comments are so, so appreciated! And feel free to find me on tumblr @flashhwings if you ever want to talk characters or headcanons!


End file.
